By purchasing patient monitoring equipment we can ensure health care staff can access a strong technological tool that will help to support management goals such as process improvement, quality improvement and safety. These management goals will be supported because the patient monitoring equipment will help to alert health care staff when there is a problem that requires attention, while also providing continuous monitoring that produces information that can be used in decision making (Schmid, Goepfert & Reuter, 2013).
The use of patient monitoring equipment would support process improvements as it would make it possible to streamline current patient monitoring protocols, resulting in process efficiency. In fact, it may replace routine monitoring in several situations that will greatly improve the time required by nursing staff to check on patients and make determinations regarding their status (Schmid et al., 2013).
Patient monitoring equipment would result in the quality improvement of patient care for two reasons. It would allow for the best use of nursing time by providing information that ensures a better prioritization. This goes beyond what is possible currently without patient monitoring equipment. Secondly, patient monitoring, in tandem with other data, would provide significant data which could provide for evidence that can be used in new research. It is possible that such research could result in new evidence based practices which further improve quality of care.
In addition to increasing the quality of care, patient monitoring equipment will reduce patient complications by providing early warning, thereby increasing safety. Ensuring safety of patients is a critical aspect of providing best possible care.
The purchase of patient monitoring equipment will therefore be an investment in achieving higher levels of the management goals through process efficiency, quality improvement and safety. This will result in better overall performance which ensures high quality care which requires less time for nursing staff but a greater level awareness of patient status.
- Schmid, F., Goepfert, M. S., & Reuter, D. A. (2013). Patient monitoring alarms in the ICU and in the operating room. Critical care, 17(2), 216.
